Scrounged Beauty: The Opening

 

Stephanie Brockway and Dayna Collins

Here we are the day of our show opening, stopping by for a final sneak peek since we hadn’t yet seen our scrounged letters hanging above the word beauty. We loved it. We spent the day tromping all over Astoria, took a short rest, then returned at 5:00 to celebrate our opening for the rest of the evening.

Final formal photos of Stephanie and me.

Once the guests began to arrive, it was a riot of activity, laughter, fun, chatter, music, visiting, drinking, eating, and general merriment as people came and went, lingered, wandered, stopped back for another look and chat. Stephanie and I were blown away by how many of our friends drove from out of town: Seattle, Salem, Portland, and Albany.

After the last guest drifted away, a group of friends joined us for dinner across the street at Fulio’s and we lingered late into the evening, basking in the afterglow of a successful show and opening party.

 

 

 

 

Scrounged Beauty

Years of Collecting

After years of being junking partners, my friend Stephanie Brockway and I are doing a show together at RiverSea Gallery in Astoria. Both of us have shown our work at RiverSea for years, and Stephanie had a solo show there a couple of years ago. I show paintings, she shows a combination of paintings and outsider folk art. Scrounged Beauty is found object art, highlighting the best of our collections of found objects, and as some would say, junk.

Months of Auditioning

I spent months pulling things out of drawers, bins, bowls, and trays, choosing which pieces to try out on various pieces of reclaimed wood and prepared boards.

Weeks of Connecting, Titling, Signing, and Photographing

A Day of Hanging

Okay, Colin actually did the hanging, while Steph and I gallivanted around Astoria.

A Sampling of My Pieces (out of 42 I have in the show!)

“Delightful Daydreams,” by Dayna J. Collins
“Giddyup, Little One Trick Pony,” by Dayna J. Collins
“Obscured Thoughts,” by Dayna J. Collins
“A Whisper of Conspiracy,” by Dayna J. Collins
“Drawn Into Memory,” by Dayna J. Collins
“Daily Interactions,” by Dayna J. Collins
“The Tiniest Things Mean Something,” by Dayna J. Collins
“Most Expedient Route,” by Dayna J. Collins
“Painstaking Exactitude,” by Dayna J. Collins
“Traveling Side Show,” by Dayna J. Collins
“Seeing Through Shadows,” by Dayna J. Collins
“Little Time to Talk,” by Dayna J. Collins
“Untroubled By Disturbing Dreams,” by Dayna J. Collins
“Beckoning,” by Dayna J. Collins
“Staring Into the Distance,” by Dayna J. Collins

THE SHOW

Beyond Words: RiverSea Gallery

Entrance to gallery

I have long been a fan of RiverSea Gallery in Astoria, Oregon. Every time I visited Astoria I made sure to stop into this beautiful gallery. When I started painting several years ago, I barely allowed myself to dream that I might one day have my art hanging in RiverSea. Well, my dream came true. My paintings are now in RiverSea Gallery.

At the end of April, my friend Cynthia and I took a road trip to Astoria to drop off my art. I got to meet the gallery director, Jeannine, and she got to see my art in person.

Gallery director Jeannine gets acquainted with my art.
Gallery director Jeannine gets acquainted with my art.

Jeannine selected twelve pieces to display in the gallery. Here’s a sampling of the pieces now at RiverSea.

"A Dark and Dreamless Oblivion" Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel 8x8 inches
“A Dark and Dreamless Oblivion”
Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel
8×8 inches
"Traveling Sideshow" Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel 20x20 inches
“Traveling Sideshow”
Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel
20×20 inches
"Tantalizing Threads of Gossip" Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel with niche 24x24 inches
“Tantalizing Threads of Gossip”
Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel with niche
24×24 inches
"A Smattering of Clues" Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel 8x8 inches
“A Smattering of Clues”
Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel
8×8 inches
"It Sounded Exotic" Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel 8x8 inches
“It Sounded Exotic”
Plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled panel
8×8 inches

It was so nice to have my artist friend Cynthia along for the day, especially since we got to spend a beautiful, sunny day at the coast.

Me, Jeannine, and my friend Cynthia
Me, Jeannine, and my friend Cynthia